Presented by Adelaide International Guitar Festival and the Adelaide Festival Centre
Reviewed Friday 10th August 2012
The first thing I asked myself was what on earth this concert was doing in a festival of guitar music. The first band on stage, The Yearlings, was a country and western trio, with electric lead guitar and lead vocal, acoustic rhythm guitar and backing vocals, and a double bass. They played a series of slow tempo, dreary songs, with the usual false American drawl that obscures the lyrics, and they demonstrated only quite basic guitar skills. The only highlight was one, all too short bass solo, that showed he could easily play the other two clean out of the theatre. What irked most was that, had I known what I was in for, I could have caught another half hour of Ana Vidovic and almost completely missed their 30 minute performance.
After the interval was the bluegrass inspired band, The Punch Brothers who, incidentally, overran their advertised finishing time of 10pm by another 35 minutes. That second half was so long that people suffering discomfort left at irregular intervals during the last 45 minutes or so, many not bothering to return. I was strongly tempted to join them. Once again, stuck in a poor location at the back, under the balcony where the acoustics are not good and the draught from the air conditioning chills the fingers, every person trekking in or out passed in front of me, apart from those that bumped my head as they departed from the row behind. These are discomforts and distractions that a critic does not need.
Again, one wondered what these groups were doing in this festival, as all but two numbers were vocals, in none of which could I understand the lyrics through the very busy accompaniments and slightly muddy sound mix. The only song that was clearly enunciated was that sung by their fiddle player. With only two instrumental numbers, and five brief guitar solos, this was not what I had expected. Their lead singer and mandolin player dominated, even adding interjections with his mandolin during other’s solos, although his own, very extended solo, the only long solo all night, not only had the other four silent, but also in darkness with a spot on him alone. As much as I like mandolin (I even have one), it all got too much.
The sound mix, perhaps effected by the acoustics under the balcony, never seemed to get it quite right. Often those playing the lead line were hard to hear over the accompaniment, and the guitar was often lost in the mix. The banjo player spent all night side on, or with his back to the audience, so we never saw much of his playing. There were some great solo or duo instrumental moments, but they were all too short and far apart. All five members of the band were clearly very skilled and talented musicians in their own right but, in ensemble, it was too hard to discern what was happening and who was playing. The banjo in its high register had been mixed in such a way that it was hard to distinguish it from the mandolin, and the low notes of the fiddle often were obscured. At least the bass was audible throughout, and a very good bassist he was, too.
Both bands had their fan bases there, but I am not about to be counted among them. I thought I was going to be attending a concert focussing on the guitar, or at least instrumental music, not bands where the indecipherable vocals dominated. This will not be remembered as my best night at the Festival.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor, Glam Adelaide.
Venue: Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Road, Adelaide
Season: One performance only
Duration: 2hrs 35mins incl interval (advertised time 2hrs)
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